


deck of cards

by schofieldelicate



Series: bittersweet blakefield [3]
Category: 1917 (Movie 2019), 1917 - Fandom, blakefield - Fandom
Genre: Idiots in Love, M/M, Sappy, idk how to explain this pls read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23043925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schofieldelicate/pseuds/schofieldelicate
Summary: There were three things William Schofield loved: love, books about love and Blake
Relationships: Tom Blake & William Schofield, Tom Blake/William Schofield
Series: bittersweet blakefield [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803160
Comments: 20
Kudos: 83





	deck of cards

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t have too much time to reread this i hope it s okay

William Schofield loved books. There was something so comforting and familiar about them. They never changed. Back at home, Schofield had a bookstore. It was small and narrow, but William prided himself in the fact, that he had read every single book in his crowded store. German authors were his favorite, a fact he kept to himself on the battlefield against the central powers. 

William also loved to write, another fact that he liked to keep to himself. He loved to write about the people around him, describing the events of the atrocious Great war. But - more than anything - William loved writing about love. Love, the strongest emotion known to humankind that was able to drive people mad. Not that Schofield knew that much about it, he had never been in love; Mary’s kisses from back home only making him feel lost. 

But Schofield wasn’t scared of never finding true love before he’d die, although he was in the middle of a deadly war. Something in him, like a warm, comfortable feeling, convinced him that the right person was not far away from him, and that he would find them soon. 

“Corporals! Stand up!”, the lieutenant in charge of Schofield’s group yelled, William immediately standing up straight. He wasn’t sure what this was all about, but William prayed that it wasn’t anything that included him running over no man’s land. 

The corporal quickly stood in the straight lane, looking at the lieutenant with big eyes. None of them knew what to expect. 

“The 8th has lost a lot of men a couple nights ago. Hence, new men are joining our forces”, the lieutenant explained rather quickly, without any emotions. Losing men was part of the war, after all. 

“Come!”, he yelled in the other direction and a dozen men walked to the group of corporals. Many of them looked unsure, frightened expressions on their faces. 

William Schofield took the time to look at them with a lot of precision. He liked analyzing their faces, making bets with himself on whom would survive the longest. He wasn’t that far off usually. William looked at a tall blond men, looking rather strong. He would survive a very long time, he thought to himself, moving on to scan the next face. 

As soon as he saw the face, Schofield forgot what he was doing. Hell, he even forgot where he was. That face had something so familiar... Schofield could not put a finger on it. The man he was starring at was a little smaller than the others and had very soft features. His face was round and a big smile was plastered on his plump lips, some brown locks sticking on his forehead. His eyes were incredibly blue, that Schofield could tell from as far as he was, that they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. 

“Welcome them with open arms and show them around”, the lieutenant spoke Schofield back to reality, and left quickly. Schofield quickly shook his head, staring at the beautiful boy. He made him feel something deep inside. Something good.He walked to him in a decisive manner, wanting to know him more than anything. Schofield couldn’t think about anything else. 

“Hello there, I’m Schofield. I can ... um... show you around”, he quickly said, falling over his words. Why was he that nervous? It was just a new soldier, nothing else, he tried to convince himself. The younger man immediately gave him a huge smile, showing him his perfectly white teeth. 

“Oh, I’d love that! I’m To- I mean Blake”, he quickly responded, correcting himself. This was clearly one of his first days in the war as he wasn’t used to using his last name. And there was also so much innocence in his smile.

“Follow me”, was all that Schofield managed to say, his brain going crazy over the younger soldier in front of him. He hadn’t seen a smile this pure since 1914. 

Quickly, Schofield marched away from the other men, Blake following closely behind. He could hear the brown haired boy breath quite loudly, not being used to carry this many things with him.

“How long have you been here?”, the boy asked excitedly, walking next to Schofield.

“Since March 1915, to be exact”, Schofield replied quickly, feeling weird when the words left his mouth. He was the contrary to the beautiful boy next to him, completely damaged by the war. He had seen too much pain and sorrow to live on normally.

“Jesus! That’s so long”, the boy exclaimed, looking at William with big eyes. Something in his gaze changed, as if he saw Schofield more clearly.

“You get used to it”, Schofield replied quickly, walking faster. He didn’t want the boy to see how damaged he was.

“Mm. I think I’m going to miss my mom’s pies”, Blake said after a while, looking at the sky thoughtfully and Schofield did not know what to reply. He didn’t want to tell Blake, that he would miss much more trivial things. As his bed, water to clean himself, or just any type of food.

“Here is the way to the trenches”, he thus decided to explain, pointing to the trenches in front of him.

“I can see that”, Blake laughed his light, angelic laugh, giving Schofield a grin.

“Is everything else this obvious or do you have any secret locations to show me?”, he added a couple of moments later, winking. Winking. Schofield could not believe his eyes; no one had winked at him since the beginning of the war. This boy was something else.

“I can show you my favorite napping spot”, Schofield said thoughtfully, Blake quickly rolling his eyes.

“Napping? That’s boring!”, he exclaimed, but following the taller boy nevertheless.

“It’s pretty much our main activity”, Schofield shrugged, walking past a group of men who looked at the boy curiously. Schofield wasn’t the only one noticing that this boy was too pure for this war.

“Whatever, I brought cards. This will be your new main activity”, Blake replied quickly, giving him another wide smile. Schofield couldn’t help but give the boy a grin. He stayed in front of a couple trees and pointed to his favorite one, a tall tree with beautiful flowers growing on it.

“This is my secret spot”, he said, using Blake’s cute expression. Blake did not seem very impressed, sitting down clumsily.

“Your tree looks like every other tree in the next square mile”, he teased the older man, licking lightly over his lips. With a calm expression, Schofield sat down next to him, shrugging.

“I guess. But it’s mine”, he replied, the beautiful boy laughing loudly.

“How is it yours? Did you buy a feet of land in France?”, he giggled, making Schofield roll his eyes. The boy was right, it wasn’t per se his tree, but it felt like it. Just how it felt right to be here with the young corporal. 

His gaze was fixated on the boy as he was searching for something - probably his cards - in his side pocket. He was softly biting his lips, seeming focused. Something about the way he looked, made Schofield want to pick up a pencil and write down what he was doing. He was so fascinated by him, his beauty undeniable. But alas, Schofield couldn’t. He didn’t have a notebook.

“Do you want to play? I can teach you this game, I came up with it with my brother”, the younger boy said after a while, an excited expression on his face. He looked so happy and content, that Schofield could not say no.

The game Blake came up with made absolutely no sense. Blake was always changing the rules, conveniently exactly during the times he was losing against Schofield. But, Schofield didn’t care. Blake looked too adorable when he tried to cheat his way to victory. The smile on Blake lips made Schofield feel like he won anyways.

And as Blake had announced, playing cards slowly became their main activity. They also took naps but the younger boy was often too hyperactive, talking to Schofield for hours at a time. The blonde man sometimes dozed off, waking up to a cute pout when Blake’d notice.

“What was your favorite activity, back home?”, Blake asked on a sunny afternoon as they were playing cards under Schofield’s tree. It was slowly also becoming Blake’s tree, a fact the blonde man enjoyed a little too much.

“Reading and writing”, Schofield replied, looking at his cards. He had several kings and queens, but Blake had just changed the rule, that 2s and 3s were the best cards to have.

“Writing? What do you write about?”, the beautiful boy asked, looking very interested. Blake always looked at Schofield in this inexplicable way; as if he were something interesting and worth listening to.

“Everything. Life, love, war...”, Schofield replied thoughtfully, throwing a king on the cards between them. Blake hummed quietly in agreement, biting his lower lip softly, an action William loved to observe. The young boy was just so undeniably pure in every action he took 

“How come I never see you write?” Blake asked further, looking at Schofield with his pretty, blue eyes. They were so alive and sparkly, remembering Schofield of the canvas his mom used to paint at home. 

“I don’t have a notebook. I wanted to exchange my medal for one, but then a guy offered me a bottle of wine instead and that was better than nothing”, Schofield replied, sounding distant. He knew Blake well enough by now to know he’d be disappointed in his actions. 

“A bottle of wine. Really, Scho?”, the adorable corporal commented as expected, shaking his head in deception. 

“It was French wine! You know it’s the best”, Schofield joked, Blake rolling his eyes. 

“You’re stupid”, he grumbled, but an obvious fondness in his voice, dropping his last card on the deck. 

“And I won!”, he added with a huge grin. 

Since Blake had joined the armed forces, something had changed around Schofield. The world was gaining colors. It wasn’t just all different shades of grey and brown, but Schofield started to spot beauty. Nothing came close to the beauty of Blake, but he started to notice little things. As a flower trying to desperately survive in the mud of the trenches. 

Schofield was sitting by himself by his favorite tree, his eyes wide open. He wasn’t used to being without Blake and couldn’t help but wonder where the younger boy was. Did he grow sick of him? Schofield wouldn’t be surprised; he was boring and Blake was so adored by every men in the 8th, that everyone would want to spend time with him. 

Thinking about Blake leaving his side hurt Schofield tremendously. Since the first day he had seen him, he had had the warm, bubbly feeling inside of him that got drastically stronger over the weeks. Blake by his side made him feel invincible and full of life. It even helped him forget about the damages the war did to himself. But today, Blake wasn’t here. 

Schofield wanted to pick up a pencil and write his feelings down. They were so strong and blurred his view; Blake was the only thing he could see clearly. 

“Scho!”, he suddenly heard the voice of his favorite person, lifting his gaze. The younger boy was smiling as brightly as always, finding his way to their usual spot. Schofield didn’t fail to notice how flustered Blake looked, his cheeks a beautiful shade of pink. 

“I thought you got bored of me”, Schofield answered as the boy sat down next to him. Blake immediately rolled his eyes, scooting closer to the blonde man. 

“Are you serious?”, was all he answered, shaking his head. Schofield just shrugged, happy to see his friend. He had started to have a tendency to over analyze every situation Blake and him shared, trying to figure out where the beautiful boy was standing. 

“Do you want to play cards?”, Schofield tried to change the conversation, but Blake only shook his head. Something was definitely wrong, Schofield thought to himself, Blake had never denied a game of cards before. 

“Why not? Is everything alright?”, he asked softly, licking over his lips. Blake nodded and grinned from ear to ear. 

“I sold them”, he answered quickly, a proud expression on his face. Schofield couldn’t help but look confused; these cards meant a lot to Blake, getting him to forget about the sorrows of the war. 

“For a bottle of wine?” Schofield joked, earning a little slap on his arm. 

“No, I’m not stupid!”, Blake giggled, letting his hand linger on Schofield’s arm a little too long for it to be purely friendly, but Schofield didn’t mind. He even loved it. 

Then he turned himself away from the olden men, searching something in his pocket. 

“For you!”, he said with a big smile, holding a thing to Schofield. Carefully, Schofield grabbed it, his mouth opening wide. It was a little leather notebook. It looked old, but as Schofield went through the pages he noticed that they were all empty. 

“It’s for you! So that you can write”, Blake stated the obvious, William not being able to understand why Blake would do this. It was such an incredible act of kindness and he didn’t deserve this at all. Blake had sold his most precious possession to make Schofield happy. 

“You - you shouldn’t have. You love your cards”, Schofield stuttered, carefully brushing his hand over the black leader. 

“I wanted to see your pretty smile. And besides, I’m just going to exchange the next medal I earn for a new deck of card”, he giggled, looking at Schofield with so much adoration that he nearly seemed to glow. A smile formed on Schofield’s lips and he pressed the book against his chest. Blake laid his hands on his shorty, sweetly biting his lower lip. 

“You better write about me. And only good things, please”, he ordered jokingly, removing his hand from his and leaning against the tree. 

And that’s exactly what Will did. He couldn’t stop writing about the pretty boy, inking all his habits into the empty pages of the book. He documented how Blake ate his bread - first the crust and then the rest - how Blake woke up - the first action he did was always to scrunch his nose in an adorable manner - and how he fidgeted with his fingers. How he always laid his head on Schofield’s shoulder to sleep and how his hand would find his way into his. 

He documented everything. How Blake got hurt and how Blake got back up. How they met and played cards. He also described in awful detail their first kiss; which pretty much consisted of Blake having enough of him and just jumping in his arms instead. He wrote down all the dreams Blake had for them; buying a little cottage in Northern England and moving in together. With and dog, of course. Blake made sure Schofield had written that down. 

But the last pages - the ones stained with tears - described another part of Blake. How selfless he was, deciding to go on an awfully dangerous mission to save his brother from certain death, Schofield joining his side of course. How he saved Schofield from an explosion, joking about exchanging that medal he would get for this action for the deck of cards he missed so badly. 

And how Blake got stabbed by a German for trying to help him and how he never got back up. The way his last words were a declaration of love and how even in that moment, Blake smiled his adorable smile, thanking Schofield for giving him the most tender and beautiful love story he could have asked for. How they both knew what real love felt like and how grateful they were for the little time they had together in the French countryside. 

And corporal Schofield died a couple weeks later in a battle, the leather booklet containing the greatest love story of all time in his pocket pressed against his heart, being soaked by the terrible rains and forgotten for all eternity.

**Author's Note:**

> If you find it in your heart to comment i wil l love u forever 🥺


End file.
